


Two Types of Smiles (Rough Where You Are Soft)

by ohmygoshwhatascream



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, LITERALLY, and that is this fic, but fight me this is how I see them, like imagine one big convoluted extended metaphor, literally me vomiting out headcanons, pretentious bs, probably simplifying of characters, protective Mythra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 03:49:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21349753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygoshwhatascream/pseuds/ohmygoshwhatascream
Summary: Pyra is warmth and Mythra cannot hope to match that.
Relationships: Hikari | Mythra & Homura | Pyra, Hikari | Mythra/Rex, Homura | Pyra/Rex
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	1. Looking For Silver Linings (Fire)

**Author's Note:**

> okay basically I just love the idea that Mythra tries to protect Pyra from all the Angst just because she want she her to be happy. And while both of them are Sad, I just really headcanon that Mythra shoulders the brunt of it, just to keep Pyra from becoming the person she view she herself as.

Pyra is warmth. She is safe, comfort, home. 

She is built up of soft edges. Rounded cheeks, button nose, rosy lips. Her hands are slender, tips of her fingers gentle, the touch of her palm like the brush of a feather. 

Her smile is like sunlight. Something easy, natural. She smiles often, for she can find joy in anything if she looks hard enough. Even the darkest clouds are lined with silver and Pyra has become an expert at seeking out such happiness.

When her smiles are gone and the twinkle in her eyes grow absent, the coldness of night sweeps in.

There is something not quite right about her when she grows forlorn. There is pain in her eyes that cannot be undone. Suffering that will linger, for she cannot let go of the past. 

But like night, her darkness is fleeting. Her shadows are lined with the thread of a thousand constellations, so even when the clouds smother and swelter over her soft smile, there is always moonlight that finds its way through.

For Pyra is someone who longs to see the good in everyone. She searches for it, desperately. So far, she is yet to find someone completely abandoned with sunlight under their skin.

Pyra is soft. She is gentle. She smiles and the shadows disappear, she smiles and they feel safe.

Rough edges do not touch her. _She_, not herself, but another her, has made sure of it. For Pyra will feel pain, guilt, suffering, but _she_ is determined that it will not harden the lines of her skin. It will not dampen her smile and it will not banish the twinkling of her eyes. The pain that _she_ feels is her own. Although they are one in the same, _she_ does not gift her with that power. 

For that power lingers with a curse of its own. Light cannot exist without shadow and _she_ had learned that the hard way. 

Pyra is not entirely protected, as much as _she_ wishes she were. But those lines that have been built, the ones that separate their body and mind, is there to preserve a light that _she_ can no longer hold on to. 

Rex can feel the warmth of her soul, the shining of her life reflected in rainbow light. 

He holds on to her warmth like a lifeline, for she is hope in a world that desperately needs it. 

Pyra wishes for things that she does not quite understand, for her memories grow scarce where shadows had lingered most.

That is how _she_ likes it. That is how it will remain.

So Pyra glows and Rex follows her, mesmerised by the light she gives off. 


	2. Shadows Where It Cannot Shine (Light)

Mythra is built up of harsh lines. Her eyes are hardened, the width of her brow furrowed and her lips do not quirk upwards at the edges.

She remembers all to well the things that have taken place and she does not linger enough to find brightness in the shadows she left behind.

Her anger is brittle. Spit out like a savaged cat, nails sharp and teeth ready to bite. She retorts in jolts of light, flashes of thunder. She does not flicker in soft flames for she lacks the patience to do so.

Slowing down is something she cannot do. The past lingers in her head and her hands grow itchy. The power that surges from beneath her skin is light, yet she feels missed by its unearthly rays.

For where the light does not reach, there is shadow instead.

Her pain is her own, though. She would rather it be this way. Have _her_, the other half that is, be free from the vividness of her thoughts, the clarity of her own memories. She cannot hide _her_ from everything, for _she_ feels the shadow under her skin, but she can save _her_ from some of it. That is why she created _her_, after all. They are one in the same, but _she_ feels safer, and Mythra is always thankful for her soft edges.

She is glad that, of all people, _she_ chose Rex.

For he is young and foolish and at first she had found his strength to be lacking. Compared to the last companion she had fought with, she had presumed him to be unwilling to trust her, wield her strength after what she had done. 

For she is not _her_. No matter the body they share or the weapon they wield. They are one in the same, but they are not quite so. It is… complicated. 

She had wondered if he missed _her_ softness when she was in charge. If he longed for _her_ warmth and rosy eyes to return. If he grew tired of her shadowed eyes and her edges that were not quite smoothed out.

But he tries to make her smile, for what it is worth.

Her smile is not sweet, not gentle and warm and safe. Or at least, that’s what she had thought.

For although her smile is not as large, and although it is a sight that is rarely seen, it is no less blinding.

**Author's Note:**

> me posting 6 fics over the span of 2 days is honestly the most ooc thing I have ever done. I’m on a roll.


End file.
